Summary

Waverly Jong narrates her own story, beginning the tale when she is six years old and living in San Francisco's Chinatown with her parents and two brothers, Vincent and Winston. The family lives on Waverly Place, the street after which Waverly Jong is named, in a small apartment above a Chinese bakery. Though they are poor, the children do not realize it because they eat regularly and have plenty of fun playing in and out of the alleys and shops in the neighborhood.

Through the years, Waverly's mother consistently gives her and her brothers nuggets of wisdom so that they can improve themselves and their situation, instead of allowing them to simply accept the poor confines of Chinatown. Among these nuggets of wisdom, Mrs. Jong teaches her daughter the "secret of invisible strength" (1) that Waverly later uses to win arguments, respect and, later...